Retired Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha is seen on stage during the White House ceremony. (Associated Press, Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

By all accounts, the White House ceremony in which Fort Carson veteran Clinton Romesha was awarded the Medal of Honor was a moving one.

Romesha, who has retired from the Army, was honored for helping to “defend the indefensible” in a marathon firefight in Afghanistan in which 53 Army troops repelled more than 300 Taliban fighters.

Eight U.S. soldiers lost their lives in the battle, and Romesha suffered shrapnel wounds to his shoulder, arms and neck as he defended the remote outpost.

This is what the Colorado Springs Gazette said about Romesha’s actions:

He killed more than 10 Taliban fighters that day using whatever weapons he could find in the burning outpost deep in Nuristan province, Afghanistan, his citation said.

He fired his own rifle, an M4. He used an MK-48, a machine gun. He picked up a Dragunov — a sniper rifle used by the Afghan National Army —and later hurled hand grenades at attacking insurgents.

And, he called in airstrikes that killed 30 Taliban fighters, the citation said.

He did nearly all of that after suffering shrapnel wounds to his shoulder, arm and neck — wounds Romesha didn’t acknowledge until another soldier spoke up. Some of the shrapnel needed to be pulled from his neck.

He risked further injury by running into raining gunfire to recover his fallen comrades.

Recently Representative Mark Udall sent me a letter stating his position in safeguarding the rights of the landowners and that he had asked for a hearing before the House Armed Services Committe to find out the army’s specific training needs. I asked Represtative Udall to expand the hearings to include some other items that are pertinent, such as: Read more…

Vincent Carroll is The Denver Post's editorial page editor. He has been writing commentary on politics and public policy in Colorado since 1982 and was originally with the Rocky Mountain News, where he was also editor of the editorial pages until that newspaper gave up the ghost in 2009.

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